Ideology and Intuition

The Associated Press ran a story yesterday on still more record-setting income flow for the overclass. Penned by Bernard Condon and Paul Wiseman, it is a true monument to our market-totalitarian times. The authors express perplexity in the face of the basic facts:

Profits have a curious, sometimes counterintuitive, impact on the economy. Unexpectedly strong earnings don’t necessarily translate into surprising economic strength. Consider that profits have surged since the Great Recession ended in 2009, even as the economy has struggled to recover. That’s because companies made profits mostly by slashing jobs and cutting costs.

What? You mean not all capital that gets amassed returns to “job creation”? Giving the rich more money might not be the best answer to all problems? Who’d have thunk it? Could there be something wrong with mainstream intuition, not to mention the central political tenet of the last 32 years? What could it be?